Fun Frugal Mommy

Fun Frugal Friday Linky Party Week 4

2012-02-16T20:39:00.000-05:00

Fun Frugal Friday Linky Party Week 4

A big thanks to all the great bloggers who linked up last week.

Here are my top 2 picks from last week.

Cheap and Easy Light Table from Happy Hooligans If you are looking for an inexpensive way to make a light table please come check out this post.

Enchanted Printable from Enchanted Homeschooling Mom This is a great free printable for kindergarten age children

If you were featured please grab a button.

Fun Frugal Friday Link Up

· Link up frugal kid friendly activities, games, or crafts. Please no promos or giveaways.

· Link up your exact post not your home page. Your posts can be old or new.

· Please link back to this blog by adding a text link or adding the Fun Frugal Friday button to your post or sidebar.

· Each week I will feature 2 posts from the previous week.

· Have fun linking and if you get a chance comment on some other links.

Fun Frugal Friday Linky Party Week 3

2012-02-09T20:00:00.000-05:00

Fun Frugal Friday

I just want to say a big thanks to those of you who linked up last week. We had some awesome ideas. I love coming up with fun activities that don't cost a lot of money. I love it even more when others share their great ideas with me. So thank you. I hope many more people will be inspired by your ideas.

Here are my top two picks from last week:

Penguin Fishing Game from Criss-Cross Applesauce. This is a great game that you can download for free. Thanks so much for sharing this activity with us.

Window Paint Recipe- Slightly Nerdy Sometimes Cool shared this great recipe for kids.

If you were featured please grab a button.

Fun Frugal Friday Link Up

· Link up frugal kid friendly activities, games, or crafts. Please no promos or giveaways.

· Link up your exact post not your home page. Your posts can be old or new.

· Please link back to this blog by adding a text link or adding the Fun Frugal Friday button to your post or sidebar.

· Each week I will feature 2 posts from the previous week.

· Have fun linking and if you get a chance comment on some other links.

Preschool/Totschool Valentine's Day

2012-02-09T08:59:00.000-05:00

Preschool/Totschool

Little Sweets 3 1/2

Little Peanut 12 months

Sight Word Fun

Little Sweets opened up the hearts and read the sight word inside the heart. I picked up the hearts from the dollar tree.

Fine Motor

I picked these up for Little Peanut, but she is still too little for this activity. Little Sweets enjoyed putting the sticks in the holes. I got the heart sticks from the dollar tree.

The following activities are examples of the Valentine's math printables for Little Sweets. You can get them here.

Heart Puzzle

Most and Least Cards

Little Sweets put a clothespin on the box with the most or least hearts. It depended on the instructions she was given.

Heart Graph

Ordinal Number Practice

Heart Addition Cards
Little Sweets put a clothespin on the answer to the addition problem.

Border Game

I cut a strip of boarder and Little Sweets had to match the pieces to another piece of border.

I wrote Sight Words on hearts. Little Sweets read the words and covered them with them with plastic hearts.

Sequencing Activity

We got this activity from confessions of a homeshooler
. Little Sweets put the hearts in order from largest to smallest.

Little Peanut pulled heart ribbon out of a wipes box.

Fun Frugal Friday Linky Party Week 2

2012-02-02T21:04:00.000-05:00

Fun Frugal Friday Linky Party

A big thanks to all the bloggers who linked up last week! There were so many great ideas. Here are my top two picks from last week.

FREE Tangled Preschool Packet

This is a great free packet from Living Life Intentionally. If you're little girl likes the movie Tangled, she'll love this packet, mine did.

The Snowman Experiment

The other featured post is The Snowman Experiment by Mom to 2 Posh Divas. This is a great experiment, especially if you live in a part of the country where you don't get snow.

If you've been featured please grab a button.

· Link up frugal kid friendly activities, games, or crafts. Please no promos or giveaways.

· Link up your exact post not your home page. Your posts can be old or new.

· Please link back to this blog by adding a text link or adding the Fun Frugal Friday button to your post or sidebar.

· Each week I will feature 2 posts from the previous week.

· Have fun linking and if you get a chance comment on some other links.

Tot Tuesday Fun with Ribbon

2012-01-31T08:37:00.000-05:00

Tot Tuesday

Little Peanut loves pulling wipes out of the box. Instead of wasting wipes I tied some ribbon together that I picked up at the dollar tree and put it in the wipes box. Little Peanut loved it! I also have seen other bloggers tie fabrics together. I've even thought about tying together my husbands mismatched socks. : )

As with any activity involving children parental supervision is advised.

Fun Frugal Friday Linky Party

2012-01-26T21:20:00.001-05:00

Link up your fun, frugal, kid-friendly, activities here!!

This Friday I am starting a new Linky Party- Fun Frugal Friday Linky Party. This will be a place where bloggers can feature their fun, frugal, kid-friendly activities. I hope you will come join us as we link up and share ideas with others.

· Link up frugal kid friendly activities, games, or crafts. Please no promos or giveaways.

· Link up your exact post not your home page. Your posts can be old or new. (please no more than 3 per week)

· Please link back to this blog by adding a text link or adding the Fun Frugal Friday button to your post or sidebar.

· Each week I will feature 2 posts from the previous week. Some posts will be chosen at random or by theme.

· Have fun linking and if you get a chance comment on some other links.

Getting in the Word Wednesday

2012-01-25T08:00:00.001-05:00

Fruit of the Spirit- Kindness

This week we are working on kindness. Little Sweets and I read and talked about the story of the Good Samaritan. We talked about being kind to others and Little Sweets gave examples of how she is kind to others. I made a kindness board. When I see her doing something kind I write it down on a sticky note and put it up on the board. I am trying to help her understand better the concept of kindness.

Tot Tuesday

2012-01-24T19:55:00.002-05:00

Tot Tuesday

Little Peanut loved putting the ping pong ball inside the paper towel roll.

Parental supervision is advised with any activity involving young children.

Click here to see all the place I link my posts.

Valentines Math Printables

2012-01-22T23:00:00.003-05:00

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I have created some fun Valentines math printables for my math units. You can download them for free.

Valentines Math Unit

Math Standards Addressed

Identifying Ordinal Numbers First Through Fifth
Displaying Information on a Graph
Interpreting Information on a Graph
Adding Whole Numbers
Introducing Line of Symmetry

Each download of these activities is for personal use in your home or in your classroom. Please do not sell or host the files on your website without my permission. Please link back to my website if you blog about these activities so others may also have the opportunity to download the activities.

Most and Least

Laminate and cut the cards apart. Have your child place a clothespin on the rectangle with the most or least hearts. You can download heart cards for this activity here.

Heart Addition Cards

Laminate and cut apart the cards and have your child place a clothespin on the correct answer. You can down load the cards for this activity here .

Heart Graph

Cut apart the hearts and place them in the correct spot on the graph. Then answer the questions.

You can also use this graph with candy hearts. You can download this activity here.

Heart Symmetery

Laminate and cut apart the hearts. Have your child put the hearts back together. You can download this activity here.

Ordinal Number Practice

Color the correct heart the correct color. You can download this activity here.

You can see where I like to link up here.

Tot School/ Preschool Winter Theme Week 3

2012-01-20T15:37:00.002-05:00

Preschool and Tot School

43 months & 12 months

Playdough Snowman

Little Sweets made a snowman out of homemade playdough.

Patterning with Snowflake Ornaments

I picked these up for 75% off after Christmas. We used them to decorate for Little Peanuts

One-derland party and are now using them for school. Little Sweets made and extended patterns with these.

Sight Word Book

Little Sweets is reading a sight word book I wrote for her. I plan to put these up on my blog soon.

Puzzle Time

Little Sweets and I put together a Fancy Nancy puzzle.

Writing

Little Sweets wanted to write a postcard to daddy. She used her sight words for help. We added love to the sight word list.

Touch and Feel Books

Little Peanut loves her touch and feel books. I love this picture. She really enjoyed scratching and touching the sandpaper page.

Looking at Books

I truly believe the love of reading starts at an early age and I encourage people to read with their children and let them explore books early. Little Peanut loves her books.

Snow Sensory Bin

I have been trying to come up with something for the sensory bin this month and have had a difficult time. I picked up some fake snow, but read the warning on the bag and decided not to use it. I didn't want to spend money and that's when I remembered our paper shredder and all the paper that needed to shredded and thrown out. Little Sweets loved playing in the paper with her polly pockets.

Sight Word Snowman

I printed this from the prekinders website last year. I wrote sight words on the page and Little Sweets covered them up with pattern blocks.

This post is linked to Preschool Corner

Preschool and Tot School More Winter Activities

2012-01-15T17:37:00.002-05:00

Preschool and Tot School

43 months and 11 months

Snowman Puzzle

Little Sweets is putting a snowman puzzle together. You can get this free here.

Lacing Cards

Snowflake Tic Tac Toe

Little Sweets and I took turns flipping over snowflake cards. Little Sweets counted the number of snowflakes on the card and covered the up the correct number on her board. I also covered up the correct number. The first person to have three numbers covered diagonally, across, or down won the game. You can get this game here.

In and Out

Little Peanut put pegs inside her box and took them out. She loves this game.

It the Tube

Little Peanut loves putting the pegs in the toilet paper tube.

Making a Sensory Bottle for Little Peanut

Little Sweets helped me make a sensory bottle for her sister. She put beads and glitter in a bottle filled with colored water.

This post is linked to Tot School

Getting in His Word Wednesday- Fruit of the Spirit Patience

2012-01-11T14:59:00.000-05:00

Fruit of the Spirit -Patience

This week we are talking about patience. I explained that patience means waiting without whining or complaining. To help Little Sweets better understand this concept I gave her a present and a timer. I set the timer and told her she had to wait patiently (without whining or complaining) until the timer went off before she could open the present. After the time went off she opened her present. I think this helped Little Sweets better understand the idea of patience. I am sure it will come up in everyday conversations and at different teachable moments throughout the day, but now I can remind her about the lesson and what it means to be patient.

We also reviewed some of the other fruits of the spirit and watched this cute video on youtube.

Snowball Sight Words

2012-01-11T14:49:00.002-05:00

Snowball Sight Words

Last week Little Sweets played a snowball sight word game that I had created for her. I wrote sight words on circles, taped them to the wall, and had Little Sweets throw a snowball (piece of balled up paper, or a balled up white sock) at the words. She read the words she hit. She enjoyed this game so much that she decided she would write the sight words on circles and tape them to the wall. I love when she extends activities on her own. It is so exciting to see how much she is learning and that she is excited about learning.

This post is linked to It's Playtime
For the Kids Friday

Tot School & Preschool Winter Activities

2012-01-08T21:53:00.002-05:00

Tot School & Preschool

Little Sweets 42 months Little Peanut 11 months

Sorting Foam Winter Animals and Shapes

Picked these up on sale 75% off at Michaels. Little Sweets sorted them and glued them onto a picture.

Painting with Salt Water to Make Snowflakes

I boiled water and added epsom salts. The salt dissolved and once it cooled Little Sweets painted onto her picture. After the water drys it looks like snowflakes on the page.

Playing with Ice

We had a large piece of ice in our backyard. Little Sweets was examining it and playing with it.

Sight Word Snowball Game

Little Sweets threw the snowball at the word and read the word she hit. (The snowball was a piece of paper.)

These math activities come from a math curriculum I created for Little Sweets. You can download the activities here.

Comparing Snowflakes

Little Sweets flipped two cards over, compared the number of snowflakes on each card, and put the cards in the column marked most or least.

Numerical Order

Little Sweets put the cards in numerical order.

Snowball Measurement

Little Sweets counted how many snowballs tall each penguin was and put the number magnet on the blank.

Graphing Penguins

Sweets put the penguins on the correct columns on the graph. She told me how many penguins were in each column. This is also part of my winter math unit I created.

Which is Different?

Little Sweets pointed out the picture that was different.

Snowman Sequencing

Little Sweets put the snowman in order from tallest to smallest.

Fine Motor Fun

Little Peanut put pom pom balls into a small hole I cut in a frosting container. She was actually very good at this.

"Yay, Little Peanut, you did a great job!" Little Sweets encouraging Little Peanut. It was so sweet.

Hanging out in their tent together. I love that they can play together now.

This Post is linked to Tot School

My Preschool Math Curriculum- Winter Math Printables

2012-01-08T21:16:00.011-05:00

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Winter Math Activities

I have created a preschool math curriculum for Little Sweets and I am excited to share this curriculum with you. Each month I will be posting a new theme with new activities. This month our theme is Winter.

Winter Math Unit

Math Standards Addressed

Counting
Identifying Numerals
Sorting and Classifying
Size Sequencing
Displaying Information on a Graph
Interpreting Information on a Graph
Measuring using Nonstandard Units of Measurement
Comparing Sizes
Describing and Extending Patterns

Snowflake Comparison Game

Little Sweets flipped over two cards with snowflakes on it. She compared the cards and put the card with the most snowflakes in the column marked most and the snowflake with the least snowflakes in the column marked least. You can download this activity here.

Penguin Measurement Activity

Little Sweets counted how many snowballs tall the penguins were and put the answer in the blank. You can download this here.

Numerical Order

Little Sweets put the numbers in order from least to greatest.

I used the same cards from the most and least activity for this game.

Penguin Graph

Little Sweets put the penguin pictures on the graph. She told me which had the greatest the fewest and the same number of penguins. You can download this here.

Snowman Sequence

Little sweets put the snowman in order from biggest to smallest.

You can download this activity here.

Which is different?

Little Sweets told me which picture in each row was different.

You can download this here.

Tic Tac Toe

This game is intended for more than one player. Each player turns over a card counts the snowflakes Each player places a marker over that number on their cards. The player that covers three numbers diagonally, down, or across wins. You can download this activity here.

Sorting

Little Sweets sorts the snowman by size. You can get download this activity here.

Winter Pattern Cards

Little Sweets identifies the pattern and extends it using the cards. You can down load this activity here.

Snowman Puzzle

Put the snowman back together and use the numbers to help. You can download this here.

This post is linked to Show and Share Saturday , Made by you Mondays, Math Box, Show and Tell,
Thrifty Thursday
For the Kids Friday

Free Winter Printables

2012-01-04T22:44:00.005-05:00

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Preschool Winter Activities

Penguin Measurement Activity

This activity helped reinforce the concept of measuring using nonstandard units of measurement. You can get the activity free here if you have a teachers pay teachers account. You can download it here if you do not have an account.

Little Sweets counted how many snowballs tall each penguin was and put the correct magnet on the blank. She is still working on writing her numbers so I thought this would be an easier to use magnets. She did write the number one.

Snow Flake Numerical Order Activity

Little Sweets put the snowflake cards in numerical order. You can get the cards here for free if you have a teachers pay teachers account. If you do not have an account you can download it for free here.

Tot and Preschool More Christmas Activities

2011-12-21T14:01:00.001-05:00

Tot School and Preschool

45 months and 11 months

Sight Word Christmas Tree

I wrote some of Little Sweets sight words in the shape of a Christmas tree. She read the word to me and then placed a dot on the word.

Fun with Flour

We've been making lots of Christmas Cookies and Little Sweets loved playing in the flour so I turned it into a sensory activity.

Christmas Tree Sequencing Activity

Little Sweets put the pieces of paper in order from largest to smallest to make a Christmas tree. I saw this somewhere and thought I pinned it, but I can't find the link now.

Christmas Tree Dot Art

Little Sweets decorated her tree with dots.

Ornaments in a Bowl

Little Peanut made noise and had fun pulling the plastic ornaments out of the bowl.

What's in the Bag?

Little Peanut loves pulling things out of bags and purses so I gave her a bag full of toys.

Reading to Baby Sister

This was so cute Little Sweets decided to read to Little Peanut.

Christmas Patterns

Little Sweets extended the pattern.

Color Mixing and Painting with Shaving Cream

Lights at the Zoo

Roasting Marshmallows

Our Christmas Gifts to the Grandparents

Homemade Coasters

Here is a post about them if you want to read more about them.

Sledding Down a Plastic Hill

We live in the south and actually paid to go sledding down a plastic hill. I know it's a little ridiculous but Little Sweets enjoyed it.

Coloring Mixing with Colored Water

I got the idea here.

Measurement

We measured how tall Little Sweets is using legos.

OSU vs. USC Basketball Game

Little Sweets Recital

Fun Frugal Christmas Gift- Personalized Coasters

2011-12-16T16:09:00.003-05:00

Personalized Coasters

I've been trying to come up with a thrifty fun gift from the girls. I saw an idea to make your own coasters here and decided to make it a little more personal. Instead of using scrapbook paper I used illustrations, letters, and numbers made by Little Sweets as well as photographs of the girls and our family. Here's how they turned out.

Here is how I made them.

I found photographs I wanted to use on the coasters and printed them from the computer.
I had Little Sweets draw a picture, write her name, and write the year on a piece of paper. Then I copied it on our color printer so I could use the same picture, name, and year for multiple coasters.
I pasted the pictures onto white tiles I bought at Lowe's for 33 cents a piece.
After the pictures dried I painted over the coasters with mod podge. ( The coasters in the picture don't have the mod podge coat yet because I still need to add the girls names and I don't use their names on my blog.)
On the back of the coasters add felt circle pads.

This was and easy, inexpensive project.

This post is linked up to TGIF Linky Party For the Kids Friday Show and Share Saturday

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Tot/Preschool Christmas Activities

2011-12-10T11:15:00.003-05:00

December Tot/Preschool

Little Sweets and Little Peanut

42 months and 10 months

This post is linked to tot school

and preschool corner

Size Sequencing

Little Sweets put the pictures of baby Jesus in order from largest to smallest. You can get the printable for this activity and the next activity here for free.

Picture Puzzle

Little Sweets put this nativity scene picture together. The numbers helped.

Sight Word Lotto

Little Sweets read the sight word card and if it was on her lotto card she covered it up with a cheerio. I made blank lotto cards and laminated them. I write the sight words we are working on with dry erase marker.

Christmas Light Patterns

Little Sweets extended pattern.

Calendar Time

I made a new calendar. Little Sweets asks me everyday what we are doing so I made icons and she helped me put them up on her calendar. Now she can look at her calendar to find out the day at what we are doing. This was a great way to make calendar time meaningful to her.

Sight Word Christmas Trees

Little Sweets read the sight word and matched the letters to make Christmas trees. You can get the printable here.

Lacing Christmas Stockings

I found some stockings for lacing in my old teaching materials. Little Sweets really enjoyed this activity.

I made some Christmas tree printables for Little Sweets. You can get them for free here. Here are some of the activities we did with them.

Counting and Number Matching

Matching Colors Using Skittles

Most and Least

Little Sweets compared trees and told me which tree had the most ornaments and which had the least.

Numerical Order

Little Sweets put the trees in order from 1-10

I also made these for Little Sweets but used clipart from Microsoft so I decided not to publish them.

Little Sweets matches the picture on the tree with the correct word that is on the trunk.

Learning Throughout The Day Through Play

Little Sweet is always learning. Her learning is not limited to our sit down learning time. I try to use all of our time together as learning time. Here is an example of how I integrate learning into play to make it a more meaningful experience for Little Sweets. She loves dramatic play and we were playing with her dolls. I wrote this letter and pretended Belle could not read it. Little Sweet read the note to Belle. I helped her with the words Dear Belle, ball, and Beast. She read all of the other words because they are her sight words and she has them memorized. Then she helped Belle write Yes back to the Beast. We stretched out the word and she wrote the sounds. Belle was so excited to go the ball so I introduced the exclamation point and Gracie made one in her letter.

We tried to make an icee in our machine but, it didn't work. The water did get cold and some turned to ice, but I didn't have the patience to crank the handle for an hour.

Little Peanut opening a box. She usually plays with the bell inside.

Little Sweets teaching Little Peanut how to sign "more"

Little Peanut pulling up to stand.

Free Preschool Christmas Tree Printables

2011-12-09T12:21:00.001-05:00

Christmas Tree Printables

I made these printable for Little Sweets. You can get them for free here and here.

Here's the activities we did with the printables.

Most and Least

Little Sweets counted the ornaments on the tree and told me which tree had the most ornaments and which had the least.

Number Match

Little Sweets counted the ornaments on the tree and matched the tree with the correct number.

Numerical Order

Little Sweets put the trees in order 1-10

Color Match

Little Sweets placed skittles on the correct color ornament.

Preschool Week 11 (October)

2011-10-31T15:12:00.002-04:00

Preschool Week 11

Little Sweets- 40 months old

Little Peanut- 9 months old

Sorting and Graphing Skittles

This was one of the activities she did at her preschool science class.

Playing with Stacking Cups

Painting on the Easel
This was also an activity she did at the preschool class and I am so glad it was in the classroom and not in my house. The teacher put koolaid in the paint so it smelled nice for the kids. It was part of their senses unit.

Science Experiment
Little Sweets stirred epsom salt into water and poured it onto paper. In two weeks when she goes back to her class the water will be evaporated and only the salt which will look like crystals will be on the paper.

Color by Sight Word
I got this activity here.

Cutting and Pasting
Little Sweets cut strips of orange paper and glued it in a pumpkin stencil.

Numbers and Pattern Blocks

Little Sweets told me the number in each shape and covered it with the correct pattern block.

Fishing For Sight Words and Numbers
I wrote sight words on metal lids and Little Sweets fished for them and read the words to me.

Writing Letters in her Kumon Workbook

Reading and Pasting a Sentence
I got this activity here.

Pumpkin Carving

Shared Reading
This stared as a guided reading lesson, but I decided to change it to a shared reading lesson. Instead of having Little Sweets read the book to me I had her echo me as I read.

Journal Activity
I would love it if Little Sweets would draw in her journal, but she really isn't into drawing so I am trying to come up with other activities. The story was about animals so she picked an animal she liked glued the picture, wrote, I and labeled the zebra (ZBRU) for Zebra. We stretched out the word zebra together.

Counting Pumpkin Seeds

Pouring and Scooping
Little Sweets did this activity for a long time and over several days.

Outside Play
It was beautiful outside so we played outside. It looks like summer in this picture. I think it's because this tree's leaves turn color so late, the other trees in our yard have lost their leaves.

Little Peanut

Little Peanut would love to be held all day long so I just bought an Ergo Carrier and absolutely love it.

Week 10 Preschool

2011-10-24T21:13:00.002-04:00

Preschool Week 10

I've finally figured out a routine that works for our schedule and I am so excited. I set out 4-5 preschool activities at our kitchen table. During learning time Little Sweets gets to choose the actvities she wants to do. Most days she does them all. Little Peanut sits in her high chair and has a snack or plays with toys during this time. If she's fussy I also wear her in the moby or ergo baby. I am so excited because I have been going crazy trying to get a routine down and something that works for our family. We did learning time 4 mornings this week and Little Sweets had a great time. I wasn't stressed looking for materials and she didn't get bored waiting for me to get organized, everything was out and she had the freedom to choose her activity. : ) Of course she is always learning and I am always teaching her, it is just nice to have a formal learning time again.

Here are some of our activitis from this week and last week since I am not great at posting weekly anymore.

Exploring Leaves and Fall Colors
Little Sweets collected leaves from the trees in our yard.

Size Sequencing Using Leaves

Painting Leaf Pictures Using Water Colors

We used the leaves in a book we made.

Graphing Leaves
Little Sweets put the leaves on the graph. She told me which color had the most leaves and which had the least leaves.

Leaf Patterns

Little Sweets helped extend the leaf patterns.

Building High Frequency Words Using Letter Blocks

Little Sweets mixed the letters in the bowl and picked them out with a spoon. Then she made her high frequency words and read them to me. If you don't have letter blocks make some out of legos. You can write the letters on the lego or put letter stickers on the lego. I got this idea here.

Ordinal Numbers

Little Sweets was pretending her little people were jumping into a pool. I told her who needs to jump in 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc.

Bible Activity Fruits of the Spirit

Little Sweets drew pictures of how she can show love, and have joy.

Sorting Leaves

Little Sweets used chopsticks to pick up foam leaves and sort them by color into ice cube trays.

Number Identification

I called out a number and Little Sweets covered the number up with a foam leaf.

Collecting and Playing in the Leaves

We collected leaves and talked about all the different colors we saw.

Painting with Watercolors

Guided Reading Lesson and Journal Entry with Invented Spelling

Little Sweets read the book The Forest during her guided reading lesson. During the lesson I introduced the book by talking about animals we see in the forest. Little Sweets told me some animals she thought lived in the forest. I showed Little Sweets pictures of animals from the book and she named them. I reminded Little Sweets about the front cover and back cover of the book. She showed me where the title page was. We took a picture walk through the book. She showed me where the page numbers were. I introduced a new high frequency word that was in the book. She read the book to me. She used picture cues and begining sounds to help with new words. She did an excellent job reading the book. Afterwards she picked an animal from the forest pictures and glued it into her journal. We stretched the word out together and she wrote the letters of the sounds she heard- SQRL for squirrel.

Ballet

Little Sweets just started taking ballet and loves it.

This post is linked up to tot school.

Preschool Week 9

2011-10-18T15:21:00.000-04:00

Preschool Week 9-

Apples and other Fun Activities

Here are some activities we've been doing for preschool.

Pretend Play

I've been looking back on my blog and noticed that I don't write much about pretend play. Pretend play is very important during the preschool years. Little Sweets has a large imagination. She engages in pretend play all the time. Here is a picture of us pretending to be princesses and dancing at the princess ball.

Ready by 5 Program

Our school district has a great parent child preschool program. Twice a month Little Sweets attends the preschool science program. I really like the program because she gets the opportunity to interact with other children in a classroom setting. She is learning to follow instructions from another authority figure (her teacher). I get to do the class with her so I still have the opportunity to guide her learning. I also love that she gets to use preschool classroom materials that I don't have at home. Here are some things she's done in the class.

Sorting Bears by Color, Painting on the Easel, and Painting with Apples

Apple Orchard Trip

Little Sweets picked apples at an apple orchard.

Made Patterns with the Apples

Put the Apples in Order from Smallest to Biggest

Graphed the Apples

I put apples in a bag and Little Sweets used a graph to tell me how many yellow apples and how many red apples there were.

She also helped me cook an apple pie, but I didn't take any pictures.

Preschool Week 8

2011-10-05T16:05:00.001-04:00

Preschool Week 8

We have been very busy lately. We have been doing school I just haven't had time to post. Here are a few activities we've been doing the last few weeks.

Math-Numerical Order

Little Sweets used magnetic numbers to fill in the blank. I printed this off, but I can't find the website I got it from.

Sight Word Matching Game

Little Sweets loves playing games. She really enjoyed this one. I wrote here sight words on index cards she flipped 2 cards over and read the words if they matched she kept the word. We took turns. She doesn't like to just pick up 2 cards so I give her extra chances.

Princess Reading Game

Little Sweets loves games and princesses so I made this game up while she was playing with her princesses. We each had a princess, rolled a dice, jumped that many cards, and had to read the word on the card we landed on. The first princess to the dress got to wear the dress.

Little Sweets is starting to read some early reader books. She read this one to her princesses after we played the game.

Math- Lego Patterning

I printed this from a math website, but I can't find the site.

At Family Game

Little Sweets read the words. You can get the printable here.

Children's Museum Huntersville, NC

Daddy took the girls to the children's museum while I was at the Women of Faith Conference. There is a ton to do there for little ones. They had a great time. We went out to dinner afterwards and Little Sweets had so much fun that she told a woman at the restaurant all about it. I have to give credit to my husband. He took an 8 month old and a 3 year old to a museum for 6 1/2 hours with no naps and they were all smiling when they came to pick me up. He's a great man.

Ready to Read Activities

You can get these activities for free here.

Little Sweets circled the matching word.

Little Sweets read the sentence. She helped cut the pieces apart using scrap booking scissors. Then she glued the sentence back together and reread it.

Picture match. Little Sweets matched the words with the pictures.

Women of Faith Conference

2011-09-26T10:46:00.000-04:00

Women of Faith Conference 2011

I recently recieved free tickets courtesy of Booksneeze for the women of faith conference. I attended the conference in Charlotte, NC this past weekend and had a wonderful time. The speakers were great and the music was wonderful. If you are looking for something to do with some close women friends this is it. Some of the speakers that spoke at this conference were Sheila Walsh, Luci Swindoll, Karen Kingsbury, and Lisa Harper. The musical guests were Mary, Mary and Natalie Grant. There was also a drama performance by Nicole Johnson.

I highly recommend this conference. If you would like to find out if there is a conference near you please check out this site. They have already scheduled next years conferences so if you missed out this year there is always next year.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received tickets from BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. For more information about this program please go here.

Preschool Week 7

2011-09-20T20:27:00.001-04:00

Preschool Week 7

Here are just a few of the activities we did. I haven't been keeping up with posting a lot of our activies. I will try to post more in the future.

Bible Activity- Fruit of the Spirit: Joy

Songs: I've got the joy, joy, joy down in my heart

The fruit of the spirit song

Bible Story: Paul and Silas in Prison

We read the story and reenacted it. I made chains out of a toilet paper roll and yarn. Little Sweets wore the chains during the story then we pulled them off. We also put them on Little Peanut and put her in jail.

Alphabet Review- Letter Factory Game

Little Sweets really enjoys playing this game.

Math Puzzle

I bought this puzzle at the local consignment sale. Little Sweets counted the pictures and matched the puzzle piece with the correct number. We also did some addition puzzle pieces.

Preschool Week 6

2011-09-11T17:54:00.004-04:00

Preschool Week

3 years old

Fruit of the Spirit

Here are some of the activities we did this week.

Bible- Fruit of the Spirit-Love

This week we started learning about the first fruit of the spirit- love.

Bible Songs : Love your Neighbor As Yourself, Jesus Loves Me, Jesus Loves the Little Children, The Fruits of the Spirit Song, O How I love Jesus

Bible Stories: From the 100 Bible Stories 100 Bible Songs
Jesus loves you from John 3:16
Shine for Jesus from Matthew 5:14-15
God's great big love from Ephesians 3:18-19

Other Books: Love by Jane Belk Moncure (I randomly found this book on the shelf at the library and I really really like it. The author does a great job of sharing what love is in a way children can understand it.) The I love you book by Todd Parr, How Do I Love You? by Leslie Kimmelman

Activities

Fruit of the Spirit Basket

Little Sweets colored her first fruit of the spirit and the basket. She glued the fruit on the basket. I got this activity from here.

Math- Counting and Number Recognition

Little Sweets counted the heart stamps and circled the correct number. We did this with several different cards.

Math- Size Sequencing

Little Sweets put the hearts in order from largest to smallest. You can print the hearts from here.

Heart Matching

LIttle Sweets matched the hearts from a cut up border strip.

Literacy and Art

Little sweets illustrated the book we made about loving her family. Then she read the book. Here is one page from the book.

Fine Motor and Math

Little Sweets continued the pattern with the heart beads and laced them onto a pipe cleaner.

This post is linked to Tot School and Preschool Corner

preschool week 5

2011-09-07T20:40:00.000-04:00

Preschool Week 5

3 years old

Bible Story- Tower of Babel

We read the story of the tower of babel from Little Sweets Bible. Little Sweets was showing me how tall the tower was. We used blocks to build our own tower. Little Sweets counted the blocks in Spanish.

Little Peanut likes knocking over the blocks and then ate them. : )

Math- Recognizing Numbers

After we built the tower I used the blocks to make numbers 11-15 and Little Sweets told me the numbers.

Literacy-Rhyming Word Activity

Little Sweets picked a card from a pile and then found the matching rhyming card. She jumped, spun, walked backwards etc to the correct shape. (This was a rhyming game hullaballoo style.)

Literacy- Word Family Activity

Little Sweets made at family words by placing the correct first letter in front of the word "at".

Literacy- Fishing for Sight Words

Little Sweets loves this game so I added more sight words and she used her fishing rod to pick up the fish. Then she read the word.

Here is her sight word list: A, an, at, and, can, go, I, is, it, like, my, see, to, the, this.

Literacy- at Words

We used letter unifix cubes to make at family words. Little Sweets mixed the letters in the pail and then picked a letter out and placed it in front of at. Then she read the word. I got the idea from here.

Math- Number Recognition

We also added number blocks to the pail and she pulled out the number and read it.

Sight Word Activity

I wrote the new sight words on a sheet of paper. Little Sweets used stamps to make the word. Then she traced the word with a pencil.

Beach Fun

We went to the beach for a vacation this week. Little Sweet and Little Peanut had a ton of fun.

Little Peanut's sensory activity was playing in the sand and eating it ewww.

Preschool Week 4

2011-08-29T17:02:00.001-04:00

Preschool Week 4

Age 3

We have been doing school activities the last 2 weeks. I just haven't had time to post. Here are some activities we have worked on.

Bible Acitivity- Noah and the Ark

We read the story from one of Little Sweets Noah board books. It has flaps she can flip up. One page has color words which is great because that is what we are working on for reading.

Literacy- Color Words

Little Sweets is working on reading color words.

Math- Ordinal Numbers

Little Sweets showed which animals were first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth.

Fine Motor, Art, and Literacy

Little Sweets read the color word on the rainbow and painted the line that color. She used her color words sheet to help her with the colors she didn't know.

Math- Number Recognition and Counting

Little Sweets named the number and put the corresponding number of popsicle sticks in each toilet paper roll.

Science, Art, Literacy

I thought it would be fun to do a color mixing activity. Little Sweets is learning to read color words. Right now I am giving her help by writing the word in the corresponding color. (We just started working on the words). Little Sweets read the word and made hypothesis about what the new color will be. She picked purple.

I mixed blue and green food coloring with baking soda. Little Sweets helped me squirt some vinegar into the jar.

The reaction was very cool and we made a new color, green. Little Sweets doesn't look to enthusastic in this picture, but she did have fun with this activity.

Dramatic Play, Literacy, Math, Fine Motor

Little Sweets and I played store. She made the sign for store. I told her the letters to write. She hasn't worked on s yet so I wrote that letter. The rest she wrote. She also took scissors and snipped the edge of the paper. She is getting real good at this.

Her Princesses bought different dresses at the store. She told me how much they were and counted out that many pennies.

We took turns working at the cash register.

This post is linked to Tot School

Preschool Week 3

2011-08-14T21:52:00.004-04:00

Preschool Week 3

38 Months Old

Math- Coin Identification and Counting

Little Sweets loves playing with coins. I decided to make a game to help her identify coins. She's been working on coin identification for a while so this was review. She really enjoyed this game. We used a generic game board I made on the computer. Little Sweets picked out one of her disney princesses to use as a game piece. She pulled out a coin from her bucket if she could identify the coin she got to roll the dice and move that many spaces on the board. I played the game with her and we each took a turns.

Literacy-Fishing for Sight Words

Little Sweets loves using her fishing rod that she got with one of her puzzles. I thought it would be fun to use it in game. I printed out pictures of fish on the computer. Then I laminated them, cut them out, and wrote sight words on them using a washable marker. (This way I can reuse the cards with different words.) Then I placed a paper clip on each fish. Little Sweets used her pole with a magnet on the end to going fishing. After she caught a fish if she could read the word she got to keep the fish.

Fine Motor- Lacing Cards

I picked up a bunch of lacing cards at a garage sale. Little Sweets had fun doing this activity.

Literacy - "AT" Family Picture Card Word Matching

I got this activity from The Moffatt Girls ready to read program. Little Sweets matched the words to the picture.

Math- Sequencing Smallest to Largest

Bible Activity- Adam and Eve

We read the story of Adam in Eve in Little Sweets Bible My First Hands on Bible. We did the activities in the bible. Then we reenacted the story using Ken, Rapunzal, a pipe cleaner and a tree made out of a wooden spoon, play dough, and cherries from hi-ho cherry-o.

Math- Counting and Number Identification

Little Sweets loved putting the cherries on the play dough tree so I thougt it would be fun to turn it into a math activity. Little Sweets counted the cherries she put on and took off the tree and matched it with the correct number written on a popsicle stick.

Fine Motor and Literacy

We are working on reading color words. Little sweets read the word then colored the shape with the corresponding color.

Math -Number Recognition

I wrote numbers on a game board that I made for Little Sweets. She read the number she landed on.

Fine Motor- Cutting

Little Sweets worked on cutting the strips of paper.

Math and Fine Motor

Little Sweets picked a card with a number on it and put that many pom poms into an ice cube tray using chopsticks.

Math- Number Recognition and Counting

Little Sweets counted the objects on the back of a flash card and flipped it over to check the number. We are working on recognizing numbers 11-20

This post is linked to Tot School and Preschool Corner at Homeschool Creations.

Appropriate Learning Time for Preschoolers

2011-08-08T14:54:00.001-04:00

Appropriate Learning Time For Preschoolers

I have been asked by several of my friends who are homeschooling what I think is an "appropriate learning time." I have been pondering this question and I think it is different for every child. Each child has a different attention span and different interests. I think the most important thing is to help children develop a love for learning. Be careful not to exasperate your children and don't get caught up in comparing your child to others. All children are different and excel in different things. My advice is to make learning fun and engaging, especially when you are working with young children. If your child looks bored or disinterested then stop what your doing. You may want to come back to the activity at another time or scrap it all together and try a different approach to teaching the concept . Remember to evaluate your motives. Are you teaching them this because little Sussie down the street has mastered this task, or are you doing this because is developmentally appropriate for your child at that time? (Always remember what may be appropriate for one child may not be for another child.) Think about the activities you are doing and try to be creative and do activities that revolve around the interests of your child. The best part of homeschooling your children is that you know your child best and can develop lessons and activities that will match their interests and attention level.

Preschool Week 2

2011-08-08T14:35:00.001-04:00

Preschool Week 2

38 months

Word Wall Fun

I decided to make a word wall for all of our fun sight words. Little Sweets loves to get out her magic wand and point to the words and read them. Often times she will do this on her own with no prompting. She also likes to dress up like a princess pretend she's princess presto with the power to spell, thanks to Super Why! Super Why is an awesome educational show on PBS kids.

Math and Fine Motor

I placed pom pom balls in an ice cube tray and Little Sweets told me the pattern. Then she extended the pattern by picking up the correct color pom pom with the tongs and placing it in the ice cube tray.

Math

I bought a bunch of alphabet and number stickers in the clearance isle at Walmart. I placed the stickers on legos and Little Sweets put the numbers in order 1-10.

Math and Fine Motor

I hot glued beads to a pipe cleaner. Little Sweets told me the pattern and then made the same pattern on another pipe cleaner.

Language Arts and Fine Motor

I recently started working on writing letters with Little Sweets. We tried this a while back, but she didn't show much interest in it so I stopped. Lately, she's been asking me how to write letters so I thought this would be good time to start again. She started with her Kumon letter workbook then I wrote letters with a highlighter and she traced them.

Alphabet Book

Little Sweets is working on an alphabet book to go along with writing letters. She writes the letter she learned to write that day and then thinks of picture that goes with the letter. She draws the picture to go with the letter. We have been doing a little invented spelling along with this activity too.

Math, Language Arts, Fine Motor

Little Sweets was very excited when daddy brought home a box of fruit loops. I thought it would be fun to do some educational activities with the fruit loops.

First I brought out the color word cards. I am just introducing the color words so I used the ones I made with colored construction paper. Little Sweets read the color word and sorted the fruit loops by color.

Then we graphed the number of fruit loops by color. We talked about most, least, and the same.

I got a piece of spaghetti stuck it in some playdough and we made patterns with the fruit loops. I think this was Little Sweets favorite thing to do.

Little Sweets also colored her sight words. I got these sight words from The Moffatt Girls free reading program. You can get it here.

This blog is linked to Preschool Corner. For more great preschool ideas please go here.

Review of the book " My First Hands on Bible"

2011-08-07T16:54:00.001-04:00

I recently received the book My First Hands on Bible in the mail courtesy of Tydale House Publishers. This Bible was written for children age’s three to six and uses hands on activities to engage young readers and to help them better understand the text. The Bible uses actual scripture from the New Living Translation to tell Bible stories. Throughout the story there are hands on activities that the child can engage in to make the story more relevant and understandable. At the end of the story there are additional activities that the child can do with the parent. There is also a prayer and special Jesus connection feature.

My daughter is three years old and loves her new Bible. She is excited to read the story and do the activities with mommy and daddy. This is a great way to teach young children about scripture. The activities are engaging and make the story more understandable and relevant for the young child. I highly recommend this Bible to anyone who has a child that is preschool age.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I recieved this book free from Tydale House Publishers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. For more information about this program go here.

Does Breast Feeding Doll Go Too Far?

2011-07-19T21:53:00.000-04:00

I don't usually blog about this topic, but this news report really got me fired up. You can watch the video here. The controversy is if it is inappropriate to give a little girl a doll that breastfeeds. To be honest I think this is the most ridiculous controversy ever. First of all you don't have to label a doll as a breastfeeding doll for a child to mimic breastfeeding. My daughter is 3 years old and while I was nursing her sister she went and got one of her dolls and started nursing the baby doll. Why wouldn't she do this when this is the only way she sees me feeding her sister. We don't use bottles so why would she want to feed her baby a bottle. Children model and mimic what they see. I think it is fine for a little girl to pretend she is a mommy and feed her baby the way her mommy feeds her baby. Unfortunately, our society has put a stigma around breastfeeding. It is a natural, wonderful thing and is the most healthy way to feed a baby. Why shouldn't we be teaching our daughters the importance of breastfeeding at such a young age? What are your thoughts?

Women of Faith Conference

2011-07-19T14:57:00.001-04:00

This year the women of faith conference will be visiting 28 cities around the country. Thanks to book sneeze I will be attending the conference in Charlotte, NC. I am very excited and can't wait to hear all the speakers and to be a part of something so awesome. The speakers for the event in Charlotte will be Sheila Walsh, Luci Swindoll, Lisa Harper, and Ken Davis. The musical guests will Mary, Mary and Natalie Grant. Nicole Johnson will be leading drama and there will be special guests Henry Cloud and Karen Kingsbury. Tickets are still available. The event pricing is $89 per person for groups of 10 or more and $99 per person for individuals and groups of 2-9. For more information about the Women of Faith event in Charlotte, NC and other Women of Faith events around the country please go here.

Preschool Week 1

2011-07-14T16:05:00.004-04:00

Preschool Week 1

36 months

Bible Activity-Creation

I am getting some of my ideas for our Bible Activity from this website. This week we did creation. We read from Little Sweets Bible; The Beginners Bible. Then I retold the story through picture cards Little Sweets used her wand to point to the card I was describing.

Language Arts

We have been working on a few sight words over the summer. This week we added "see" to our list. Here is the list Little Sweets has been working on.

Sight Words- A, at, go, I, is, it, see, the

Sight Word Activities

Paint and Reveal

I used a white crayon to write sight words on paper. Little Sweets took water colored paints and painted over the page and words appeared on the page. She read the words as they appeared. I got this idea from this blog.

Stamping Sight Words into Play Dough

Little Sweets used her letter stamps to make words in her play dough. She also used number and picture stamps.

Reading Sight Word Book

I have printed out several books that use the sight words we have been working on. Little Sweets loves to read these books. This week she found all the books I printed out and decided she wanted to read a book that had sight words we hadn't done yet. She was determined to read the book and did a great. job. We will be adding those words to our list next week.

Word Family Activities- "at" Family

Here are some of the activities we have been doing for the "at" family words.

Word Whammer

Little Sweets made words in her word whammer- cat, sat, fat, mat, bat, rat

Self-Checking Word Wheel

I made this word wheel for Little Sweets and she loved it. She turned the wheel read the word and checked to see if she was correct by lifting up the flap and looking at the picture. I posted directions on how to make it here. I was surprised at how quickly she picked up on blending the sounds to make the word.

Art/Math

Homemade Play Dough

Little Sweets helped me make homemade play dough. She helped with counting and pouring. You can get the recipe for homemade kool-aid play dough here.

Math

Counting, Number Recognition, and One-one correspondence

Little Sweets told me the number on the page and counted the dots as she placed them in the squares. We did this activity for numbers 10 and 11.

Number Recognition

Little Sweets put bottle caps on the number as I called it out. She can recognize numbers 1-10 so we are working on 10-20. It was helpful to have the colored squares because I could tell her to find the number 17, it is on a blue square. This narrowed it down and made the activity much easier for her.

Fine Motor

Handwriting

Recently Little Sweets has showed an interest in writing letters. She asks me how to make them and shows me when she has made a letter so I thought we work on some handwriting. Here she is tracing letter cards I made for her. The cards are laminated so she can reuse them.

Linked to Preschool Corner

Stamping Fun in Homemade Playdough

2011-07-13T19:50:00.002-04:00

Stamping Words into Play Dough

Little Sweets has been asking to play with play dough for a while now. The play dough she had been using was dried out so I thought I would pick some up at Wal-mart. They didn't have what I was looking for so we decided to make our own. I wanted it to smell nice so I thought it would be fun to add kool-aid to the dough. I found a great recipe for kool-aid play dough here. Little Sweets helped me make the dough. Then she used stamps to spell words in her play dough. She also stamped pictures and numbers into the play dough.

Little Sweets helping me make the playdough.

Little Sweets stamping in her playdough.

Linked to For the Kids Friday, It's Playtime

Self-checking Word Family Wheel

2011-07-13T11:01:00.002-04:00

Self-checking Word Family Wheel

I made this to help Little Sweets with her word family words. She spins the bottom wheel until she comes to a letter. She says the word and then lifts the flap to see if she is correct. This was simple to make. I cut two circles from a poster board. On the first circle I cut out 2 squares. I wrote "at" beside one square and glued a flap on the other square. Then I used a clasp to fasten both circles together. I wrote the letter and glued the corresponding picture on the second circle while it was fastened together. This way I knew it would match up. Remember to keep letters on one side of the circle and pictures on the other side of the circle. I have included a picture of the second circle. Have fun!!! : )

Linked to For the Kids Friday

Caterpillar Review Activity

2011-07-11T22:20:00.001-04:00

Caterpillar Review Activity

This was a fun activity that I made for Little Sweets. Each player gets a caterpillar sheet and tries to fill in the circles. I laminated colored circles to use as the body. I wrote words and numbers we were working on that week on the circles and turned them over. Little Sweets picked a circle and could place it on her caterpillar if she could tell me what the name of the number or word on the circle. I plan on using this game as a review with other words and numbers in the future.

Pattern Block Sight Word Review

2011-07-11T17:21:00.001-04:00

Pattern Block Sight Word Review

We just started working on sight words this summer. I have been searching the internet for some fun games and came across this one. You can find this idea and more here. Little Sweets really enjoyed this game. I got the pattern from this site. I printed and lamintated the paper. I recommend laminating the paper because then you can write and wipe-off words, letters, numbers, whatever you would like your little one to review. Little Sweets read the word and then covered it up with the correct pattern block. We also did this activity with numbers.

Fun Frugal Fouth of July Crafts & Activities

2011-06-29T21:31:00.005-04:00

Fourth of July Crafts & Activities

Pom-Poms

I got this idea from this website http://www.makeandtakes.com/ . We will be going to a Fourth of July parade and I thought these would be fun for Little Sweets. She is already enjoying them. They were simple to make you can get directions here.

Glitter Glue Fireworks

Little Sweets enjoyed making fireworks with glitter glue. She needed a little help. She had a hard time squeezing the right amount of glue out.

Patriotic Star

I cut out a star shape and put it on contact paper. Little Sweets put pieces of ripped up tissue paper on the contact paper. I love contact paper the projects are endless.

Coffee Filter Firework

I got this idea from the website http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/ You can see more of their Fourth of July crafts here. Little Sweets colored with washable markers on a coffee filter and then sprayed it with water. We tried cutting it to look like a firework.

Firework with Pattern Blocks

Little Sweets loves pattern blocks so I tried to make a firework shape for her. I copied it on my printer and Little Sweets matched the blocks to the picture.

Star Shaped Sensory Activity

I made these star shaped ice cubes from an ice cube tray I got at the dollar tree. Little Sweets loved playing with the ice. She really liked picking up the ice cubes with a spoon. We went through a whole ice tray of ice cubes in one sitting. I think this was her favorite activity.

Glitter Glue Star

Little Sweets love the glitter glue so I cut out the shape of a star and she decorated it with red and blue glitter glue.

This post is linked to It's Playtime , Playdate, For the Kids Friday, Preschool Corner

Self-Checking Word Family Activity

2011-06-25T08:34:00.000-04:00

Self-Checking Word Family Activity

This was so simple to make. I wrote the word "at" on an index card and then wrote beginning consanants that would go with "at". Here are the consonants I used b,c,h,m,and r. Then I glued a picture that went with the word on the back of the consanant. Little Sweets puts the consonant in front of the index card with "at" written on it and then says the word. She can flip over the consonant card to see if she is correct.

Sun Bleached Sight Word Game

2011-06-24T10:33:00.000-04:00

Sun Bleached Sight Word Game

This is a simple fun activity. In order to make the cards you need magnetic letters and construction paper. I placed the magnetic letters on the construction paper and left it out in the sun. When I brought the paper inside at the end of the day the sun had bleached the paper around the letters. Little Sweets reads the words and then places the magnetic letters on top of the letters in the word. I got the idea for this activity here.

Grab a Button

2011-06-23T13:08:00.000-04:00

I have a button!! It took me a while, but it finally worked. I used tutorials from two different blogs. You can check them out if you click here and here. Come on over and grab a button.

Homemade Lego Math Game

2011-06-21T09:38:00.000-04:00

Homemade Lego Math Game

This was so easy and fun to make. I drew dots on index cards, cut them apart, and taped them onto legos. Then I did the same thing with numbers. My daughter counted the dots and matched the lego to the lego with correct corresponding number.

(This is a great activity for number recognition and counting.)

Sorting and Patterning with Foam Stickers

2011-06-21T09:10:00.000-04:00

Sorting with Foam Stickers

I picked these stickers up from the dollar tree. They usually have stickers for different holidays. I had my daughter sort the stickers by shape.

Making Patterns with Foam Stickers

We also used the stickers to make patterns.

Graphing with Stickers

I made a graph and my daughter placed the hearts on the graph. We talked about how many of each heart we had. Which row was the greatest and had the most and which had the least.

Shape Collage

2011-06-21T09:07:00.000-04:00

Shape Collage

This is a great activity when teaching shapes. I cut out shapes and let my daughter stick the shapes onto contact paper. (This is great for young children because you don't have to use glue.) When she was finished I put piece of paper on the sticky side of the contact paper.

Fun Frugal Fine Motor Activities

2011-06-19T08:36:00.003-04:00

Fun Frugal Fine Motor Activities

36 Months

Lacing Straws onto Pipe Cleaners

I love pipe cleaners. You can use them for so many different activities. This week I cut up straws and Little Sweets matched the color of the straw with the pipe cleaner and put the straw on the pipe cleaner.

We also did a patterning activity with the straws and pipe cleaners.

Chopsticks and Pom Poms

Little Sweets used chopsticks we got at a local Chinese restaurant to pick up pom poms. (They were children's chopsticks)

Tongs and Pom Poms

Little Sweets used tongs to pick up pom poms. She counted them and put them in numbered muffin tins. Great activity for math too.

Lacing Links onto Plastic Straws

I got this idea from this blog. I found all these items from the dollar tree. It was simple to make and Little Sweets loved the activity. Little Sweets put little plastic flowers on the straws. I found the flowers in the toy department at the dollar tree. You could also use plastic rings, beads, or rubber bands if you can't find the flowers.

For more great tot school posts go here.

Letter Picture Match

2011-06-15T17:30:00.000-04:00

Letter Picture Match

I cut up alphabet flash cards that I picked up at the dollar tree. I placed the pictures from the flash cards in random order on the table. Then I placed letter tiles in rice. Little Sweets and Peachers took turns pulling out a letter tile. They identified the letter, said the letter sound, then placed it next to the picture that started with the letter. (I got the idea to hide things in rice from this blog.)

Tot School 35 Months Letters X, Y, and Z

2011-06-13T12:40:00.002-04:00

Tot School Letters X, Y, and Z

35 months

Letter X

It's hard to come up with activities for the letter x. I really don't like doing activities with xylophone so decided we would focus on x as an ending sound. Little Sweets found the letter x magnets we had on the refrigerator and she told me the sound it makes. Then I had her find pictures cards I hid in rice. She had to decide if the pictures ended with the x sound. She really liked digging through the rice.

Letter Y

Y is for yogurt pops. Little Sweets loved making and eating this yummy treat. You can get the recipe here. We used vanilla yogurt instead of plain and didn't add the vanilla.

Letter Z Activities

Z is for zigzag. Little Sweets loved tracing zigzags in her My First Book Of Tracing (Kumon Workbooks).

Z is for Zebra

I colored a picture of a zebra black. (Don't use washable markers because they bleed with the paint.) Then Little Sweets used a golf ball in a shoe box to paint the stripes on the zebra. She moved the box back and forth to roll the golf ball around the box. There was a glob of white paint inside the box that the ball would roll through and then onto the zebra.

For more great tot school posts go here.

Tiny Tot

4 and 1/2 months

Little Peanut exploring her toys.

2011-06-08T13:16:00.000-04:00

Looking for a better way to organize the neat ideas you find on online? Try Pinterest. It is a virtual pinboard where you can put ideas that you like and would like to share with others. I recently came across it when I noticed my blog was getting pinned by other people. I love it!!! Come on over and follow me and you can see what great educational ideas I've found recently and start following. You can check it out here. Don't forget to request an invite so you can join in on all the fun.

Fun Frugal Summer Ideas

2011-06-01T15:35:00.001-04:00

Trying to come up with some activities for the summer? Here are some fun, frugal, activities we have planned.

$1 Movies at Regal Cinemas- On Tuesdays and Wednesdays Regal Cinemas will be playing G or PG movies for kids for $1. To learn more go here.
Local Library Summer Programs Check out what's going on at your local library. They usually offer free programs for children. Our local library has music and movement activities, reading programs, puppet shows, and movie nights.
Barnes and Noble Story Time- You can go here to see if you store is hosting story time. Our Barnes and Noble also has a fun play area for children which is great for rainy days.
Parks- Head to the park for picnic and play.
Local Museums- Visit local museums. Some charge a fee while others are free. Many museums have specials. You can get in the children's museum in Columbia, SC the first weekend of the month for free if you are a Bank of America card holder. You can go here for details.
Zoo- Another great activity is going to the zoo. We go so often we have a membership. Our membership is also good at other zoos across the country. Our zoo has membership nights, children get to go on rides for free, snacks are only $1, fountain drinks are free, and there are planned activities for the kids. Our Zoo and Garden also offers classes for children for around $9. For more information about Riverbanks Zoo go here.
Water Day- Get out the sprinkler and squirt guns and have your own water fun at home.
Local Pool or Beach- Head to your local pool or beach.

These were just a few fun ideas. For more great ideas in Columbia, SC check this page out.

Tot School Letters "U", "V", and "W"

2011-05-31T15:10:00.002-04:00

Tot School

Letters U,V, and W

35 months

Our Tot School activites have been slowing down now the weather is nice out. We do a lot of playing outside with friends instead, which I think is very important. Here are some activities we have done recently.

Little Sweets read her alphabet book.

Little Sweets put the umbrellas in order from largest to smallest. I got the printable from COHS.

Little Sweets put her umbrellas in numerical order. You can print this out from here.

Little Sweets extended the pattern.

Little Sweets circled the matching letter. I got this printable from COHS.

Little Sweets matched the picture with the correct letter. You can print out picture cards from here.

Little Sweets used her fingerprint to make seeds on her watermelon.

Tiny Tot School

Peanut is learning to grab everything and is putting it in her mouth. Here she is with Little Sweets sippy cup. ( I poured the water out.)

For more tot schoo posts go here.

Review of the book "Daddy Dates" by Greg Wright

2011-05-24T11:48:00.000-04:00

I recently received the book Daddy Dates courtesy of booksneeze.com. In this book, the author, Greg Wright shares his experiences raising four daughters. He explains how he built and fostered his relationships with his daughters by taking them on dates. Throughout the book Wright describes how he gets to know his daughters better. He includes a personality quiz and describes fifteen dates a father can take his daughter on.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. The book was entertaining and I really liked how the author gave practical advice on how to talk with daughters. The author recognizes the impact a father can have on his daughter and the importance of building lasting relationships with daughters. This book is a great starting point for fathers who want to build a relationship with their daughter.

My husband also read this book. He enjoyed some of the content found in the book, but felt the author could have shared the same information in a shorter book. He also thought a lot of the information found in the book is common sense, but agrees that it may be helpful for some fathers.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. For more information about this program please go here.

Tot School Letters "S" and "T"

2011-05-08T19:59:00.002-04:00

Tot School- Letters "S" and "T"

34 Months

Sticker Shapes

I printed out the shape of a triangle. Little Sweets put stickers on the lines.

Stamp Cards

I made cards with circles on them. Little Sweets stamped inside the circles.

Then she counted the stamps.

She turned the card over to check the number and then traced the number.

Stamp Patterns

Scissors

I got out my fun scrap booking scissors and helped Little Sweets cut paper.

T is for Tracing

I made these tracing cards for Little Sweets. They are laminated so she can reuse them. We are really working on her fine motor skills and learning how to hold a writing utensil correctly.

Teddy Bear-Positional Words

We used Little Sweets teddy bear during a lesson about positional words. I didn't post all the pictures here are 2 examples.

Inside

On top

Letter Bag

Little Sweets and I found toys that start with the letters "S" or "T". Then she told daddy what each toy was and what letter it starts with.

Preschool Bag Activity- Blog Hop

Matching Game- I made this game from border I bought from the dollar tree. To learn more about this activity or to join my blog hop please go here. I'm hoping to meet more mommies who've come up with preschool activities that can fit in ziploc bag.

Tiny Tot

This is Little Peanut I was going to use the nickname cutie pie, but I call her peanut more often. She will be 4 months old next week. She just started holding things with her hands. She is growing up so quickly.

For more great tot school posts go here.

Preschool Bag Blog Hop Week 2

2011-05-05T12:54:00.001-04:00

Preschool Bag Activity Blog Hop

Do you have an idea for an activity that a preschooler can do on their own or with some assistance by a parent, that is cheap, fun, and can fit in a Ziploc bag? If you do, please link up.

This activity is super easy to make. I bought border at the dollar tree and cut one piece up. The object of the game is to match the cut up pieces to a piece that is not cut up. This border was little more difficult because Little Sweets had to pay close attention to details, specifically the size of the hearts.

Homemade Tracing Cards

I saw tracing cards at the store and decided it would be fun and cheaper to make my own. I used Microsoft word to make the letters. I printed out the cards and laminated them. Little Sweets used a dry erase marker to trace the cards. (You can now purchase washable, scent free, dry erase markers at wal-mart.) These are great because they are reusable. You may want to work with your child when you first introduce the activity. I still have to help my little one hold the marker correctly.

Please make sure you link back if you link up to this blog hop. Thank You. I can't wait to see all the great ideas.

Preschool Activity Bag Blog Hop

2011-04-28T17:50:00.006-04:00

I spent most of Saturday night making preschool activity bags. I knew I wasn't the only one to think of such a novel idea so I googled the words preschool bags and came across the blog Walking by the Way. I was able to get some great ideas from this blog. There are also great ideas at Delicious Ambiguity. Then today I saw on Money Saving Mom that another blogger had posted a busy bag swap. What a great idea!! I wish I had known about the post before I spent so much time making my own bags. Since I am not the only one who has great ideas for preschool bags I thought it would be fun to start a blog hop. If you have an idea for an activity that a preschooler can do on their own or with some assistance by a parent, that is cheap, fun, and can fit in a ziploc bag please link up. The hop will start Thursday. I can't wait to see everyone's ideas.

Pony Bead Activities

Patterning

This activity contains small pieces so please use parental supervision with young children.

I hot glued pony beads onto pipe cleaner. Then I placed another pipe cleaner in the bag with matching beads. The object of this activity is to have the child copy the pattern onto the other pipe cleaner.

Color Matching

I placed a pipe cleaner and pony beads in the bag. The child is to match the pony beads to the correct color pipe cleaner and to string them on that pipe cleaner.

If you would like to join this blog hop please link your activity bag idea up on my website then post a link back on your blog so your followers can see other peoples ideas as well.

Tot School Letters "Q" and "R"

2011-04-28T15:15:00.001-04:00

Letters "Q" and "R"

34 Months

Q-Tip Art

It was difficult to find letter "Q" activities. I was going to have Little Sweets paint with q-tips, but since it was raining outside I had to come up with another activity. I decided to tie the activity to our Bible Story. The Bible Story we worked on this week was Noah and the Ark. I cut out and colored the story from the curriculum More Toddlerifc Faith Building Activities. After I told the story. I reminded Little Sweets about how Noah obeyed God and how God was faithful in keeping Noah safe. (This weeks character's trait is obedience.) Then I made a rainbow with washable markers and Little Sweets dipped a q-tip in water and painted over the rainbow to spread the colors.

R is for Rain Stick

I helped Little Sweets make a rain stick. She put stickers on a paper towel roll. I used paper and contact paper to close the one end of the roll. Then I rolled up a long piece of aluminum foil and placed it in the roll. We poured rice in the roll and closed the other end with paper and contact paper. It was easy and fun.

R is for Rainbow Rice

This activity wasn't planned. Little Sweets had so much fun playing with the rice from the rain sticks that I decided to turn it into another activity. That is what I love most about teaching my little ones. So many unplanned fun activities come from their interests and ideas. We placed rice in a Ziploc back and added a few drops of food coloring. Then Little Sweets shook the bag. Afterwards Little Sweets poured the rice in a large bowl and had playing with it. She really enjoyed pouring it into other bowls.

Raindrop Clothespin Letters

I made these last year for my April's showers unit. You can down load the raindrops here. I glued the raindrops to clothespins and Little Sweets put the raindrops on the picture that matched the letter.

Rain Boot Matching Game

I also used this game last year. You can download the printable here. Little Sweets matched the rain boots together.

Raindrop Puzzles

Little Sweets matched the number of raindrops with the correct number on the clouds. I also made this as a printable you can download it for free here.

R is for Rhyming

We went over some rhyming pictures and words that I had from a game I used when I was teaching.

R is for reading

Little Sweets loves to look at books. She decided on her own that she wanted to read to her sister. She picked out a book and showed her the pictures. This book has songs in it so Little Sweets sang the songs she knew and told her sister about the pictures. So cute!!

Other Activities

Monkey Joe's

Little Sweets went to a place called Monkey Joe's. Monkey Joe's has lots of inflatables for kids to jump on. She enjoyed playing with friends.

Preschool Bag Activity

Over the weekend I created a bunch preschool bag activities. This week was Bead Activities. I am also hosting a blog hop for other bloggers who wish to share their preschool bag activity ideas. For more about this activity and the blog hop please go here.

For more great tot school posts go here.

Letter "P"

2011-04-25T20:41:00.001-04:00

Letter "P"

34 Months

The weather here was beautiful this week so we spent a lot of time outside. We did manage to do some tot school. We worked on letter "P" and did some Easter activities.

P is for Popsicle Sticks

There are so many activities you can do with Popsicle sticks. Here are a few that Little Sweets did.

Popsicle Stick Patterning

I made patterns with the sticks and Little Sweets told me the pattern and used more Popsicle sticks to extend the pattern.

Popsicle Stick Sorting

Little Sweets sorted the Popsicle sticks by color.

Popsicle Stick Counting

Little Sweets counted the Popsicle sticks and then found the number card that matched.

Letters and Words

Little Sweets and I made letters out of the Popsicle sticks. I made a word and Little Sweets read it.

Picture Match

This was an easy game I made. I created the letter board using the computer. I printed out picture cards to use from this website. You can create your own using clip art, but I had printed out the cards for another activity so I decided to reuse them. Little Sweets and I took turns turning over a picture card and placing it on the letter the picture started with.

Painting

Little Sweets painted several pictures using water color paints.

P is for Princess

Little Sweets spent a lot of time playing with her princess dolls (and Ken).

Easter Activities

Daddy and Little Sweets are doing Resurrection eggs together.

I cut out and laminated the Easter story found in the curriculum More Toddlerific Fun Faith Builders. I made props to go with the story.

I bought these cards from the dollar tree. Little Sweets put the cards in numerical order.

Tiny Tot

Cutie Pie giggled for the first time this week.

Cutie Pie fell asleep on her belly for the first time this week.

For more tot school posts go here.

Fun Frugal Mommy

Fun Frugal Friday Linky Party Week 4

Fun Frugal Friday Linky Party Week 3

Preschool/Totschool Valentine's Day

Fun Frugal Friday Linky Party Week 2

Tot Tuesday Fun with Ribbon

Fun Frugal Friday Linky Party

Getting in the Word Wednesday

Tot Tuesday

Valentines Math Printables

Tot School/ Preschool Winter Theme Week 3

Preschool and Tot School More Winter Activities

Getting in His Word Wednesday- Fruit of the Spirit Patience

Snowball Sight Words

Tot School & Preschool Winter Activities

My Preschool Math Curriculum- Winter Math Printables

Free Winter Printables

Tot and Preschool More Christmas Activities

Fun Frugal Christmas Gift- Personalized Coasters

Tot/Preschool Christmas Activities

Free Preschool Christmas Tree Printables

Preschool Week 11 (October)

Week 10 Preschool

Preschool Week 9

Preschool Week 8

Women of Faith Conference

Preschool Week 7

Preschool Week 6

preschool week 5

Preschool Week 4

Preschool Week 3

Appropriate Learning Time for Preschoolers

Preschool Week 2

Review of the book " My First Hands on Bible"

Does Breast Feeding Doll Go Too Far?

Women of Faith Conference

Preschool Week 1

Stamping Fun in Homemade Playdough

Self-checking Word Family Wheel

Caterpillar Review Activity

Pattern Block Sight Word Review

Fun Frugal Fouth of July Crafts & Activities

Self-Checking Word Family Activity

Sun Bleached Sight Word Game

Grab a Button

Homemade Lego Math Game

Sorting and Patterning with Foam Stickers

Shape Collage

Fun Frugal Fine Motor Activities

Letter Picture Match

Tot School 35 Months Letters X, Y, and Z

PInterest

Fun Frugal Summer Ideas

Tot School Letters "U", "V", and "W"

Review of the book "Daddy Dates" by Greg Wright

Tot School Letters "S" and "T"

Preschool Bag Blog Hop Week 2

Preschool Activity Bag Blog Hop

Tot School Letters "Q" and "R"

Letter "P"